Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and Solid State Ceramics Inc. have modified hard-piezoceramic materials to realize the potential of piezoelectric transformers—which hold promise to reduce size and boost the efficiency of consumer electronic devices.

The latest discovery from James Tour’s research group at Rice University details the development of graphene-based catalysts, born from coal, to replace more-expensive and less-efficient platinum catalysts in fuel cells of the future.

3D graphene to replace platinum in dye-sensitized solar apps? Dye-sensitized solar cells are thin, flexible, easy to make, and efficient. However, they use platinum, and, at $1,500 an ounce, the cost of the precious metal is significant even in the small quantities used in dye-sensitized cells. Now researchers at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, have developed…

Nature Chemistry reported that Japanese researchers have created subnano scale platinum clusters with high catalytic activity for use in fuel cell applications. The tiny catalyst particles – the smallest of which contain just 12 atoms in total – could help to conserve the planet’s limited supply of platinum. The team found that as they decreased…

A University of Dayton research team – led by Liming Dai, UD’s Wright Brothers Institute endowed chair in nanomaterials – says it has developed a technique that makes carbon nanotubes a cheaper and better fuel cell catalyst than platinum. The Feb. 6th online edition of Science magazine reports on the team’s findings. Since that announcement, interviews with Dai – a…

It seems like there is a breakthrough a week in the realm of lower-cost catalysts for producing hydrogen. The latest news comes from Ohio State University, where researchers are using a $1.1 million grant to develop alternatives to pricey rare and precious metallic catalysts like platinum and rhodium. With these metals selling for thousands of…

[flash /ceramictechtoday/wp-content/video/nocera_long.flv mode=1 f={image=/ceramictechtoday/wp-content/video/nocera_long.jpg}] In a previous edition of Ceramic Tech Weekly, we posted information and a brief video about MIT researcher Daniel Nocera and his apparently successful efforts to cut down on the use of costly platinum. Now the good folks at Blip.TV have gone out and toured Nocera’s lab and conducted a longer…